Whisky Melody: Rock Star Romance, New Adult College Romance (Tennessee Romance Book 2)

by Lexy Timms

  “You don’t mind?”

  Hell, yes, she minded. It was just a very rotten cherry on top of a spoiled sundae, but there was nothing she could say to change it. Life just sometimes worked out that way. When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. “No, it’s fine,” she said.

  “Okay. Well, it’s paid for till the end of the month, so no rush.”

  No rush? She wanted to bang her head on the wall or smash her cello over his. Everything was rushing by too fast, spinning out of reach, and she didn’t know what to do. “Okay,” she said dismissively, sick and tired of lying and telling everyone that.

  After she hung up with her uncle, she picked up her cello case, opened it, and looked at the dormant strings. As much as music usually lingered in her heart, this time she couldn’t summon one single note.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Logan’s day seemed to get worse, and he was shocked that was even possible. “Screw you and your dumb law, Murphy!” he raged as he read a text from his bass player, informing him that he was quitting the band. It was the day before Royale, and he was down two band members. His only option was to sing solo, but he would have to change some of the lyrics for that to make any sense at all. He was still upset Ashley had quit the band, but, as long as she didn’t quit him, he could live with that. Whatever she decided to do was fine with him, as long as he was part of her life.

  As for bass players, though, that was another problem entirely. He had no choice, so he plodded across the campus like a pouting toddler, hit the button to speed dial Charlie, then waited for him to answer. “I need you and your bass,” he said as soon as Charlie answered on the third ring, without even bothering with a hello.

  “Say what?”

  “Our bass player quit, Ashley quit, and, oh…Kaylee’s in the hospital.”

  “Whoa, man! Slow down. Where are you?”

  “Walking. I just…needed to think.”

  “Okay. Meet me at Billy’s in ten.”

  “What are you doing at Billy’s?”

  Charlie snorted. “Washing dishes, dude.”

  Logan blinked. “Huh?”

  “I’m working, yo. I needed money, and they needed some asshole to scrub the pizza pans. A real win-freaking-win, right? Anyway, I get off in a few minutes, so just meet me over here…and don’t say shit about the tomato sauce in my damn hair.”

  Logan managed a slight chuckle at the visual of that. “Okay. Will do. Why didn’t you tell me you took a job?”

  “It’s no big deal.” Charlie said. “It wasn’t like I was doing anything else really.”

  Logan blew out air from what felt like the bottom of his lungs. So many things had escaped him lately, as if the whole world had gone on without him in it. He’d been so tied up in his relationship with Ashley and his preparation for Royale, but even that didn’t fully explain it. School kept him busy, and he frequently ran on nothing more than coffee and nerves, but that was the state half the kids on campus lived in. Somehow, amidst it all, he’d just checked out, and he didn’t even remember when that happened.

  “Okay. Well, I’m heading over now.” He hung up and kept walking, dragging his feet a little as he went. He thought it might be better to just call the whole thing off, to duck out of the band competition altogether. Things were spinning so far out of control, and it was beginning to feel like he was working too hard and getting nowhere.

  Charlie was outside, leaning against the building, and he gave his stepbrother a long, concerned look. “You hungry, bro?”

  Logan shook his head. “No. I ate a bit ago.”

  “Cool. If you don’t want a beer or anything, let’s just go. I can’t even stand the smell of that place after bein’ stuck in that greasy-ass kitchen for a couple hours.”

  Logan rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. “Yeah, let’s just walk. Like I said, I need to think.”

  “Think, huh? About what? What’s up?” Charlie asked as they set off toward the campus.

  Logan watched their shadows run away below them. “Let’s see. Yesterday, I got in a huge fight with Ashley because Kaylee came over and told me you were fucking Ash.” He held his hand up to stop Charlie from interrupting. “I know. I was still pissed. I’m an idiot, because she has a fucking ex who thought he was all that and hitting women was okay.” He shook his head. “I just got…too loud and pushy, so she quit the band.”

  “Seriously?”

  Logan quit walking. “Why were you over there, at her dorm?”

  Charlie stopped and looked at her. “I asked her to ask you to let me back in the band. That’s all it was, Logan. I swear.”

  Logan lifted an eyebrow. “And you couldn’t ask me yourself?”

  Charlie shrugged. “I was embarrassed. I mean, c’mon! She didn’t tell you?”

  “No. Ashley just said she’s tired of being everybody’s go-between.”

  “Yeah, she told me the same thing when I asked her for help with you and even with Kaylee. By the way, I knew you were about to be short a bass player. I wanted to squeeze in before you found somebody else.”

  Logan eyed him. “For real? You want back in?”

  Charlie nodded. “I do. I just… Oh, hell. It’s where I feel like I matter, as emo as that sounds.”

  “I get that. I feel the very same way.”

  Charlie started walking again. “How’s Kaylee?”

  “You don’t sound surprised.”

  Charlie snorted. “I’m not. Lots of people are talking about some bad molly that’s making the rounds. As much of that shit as she took, I knew it was just a matter of time before she got hold of a bad batch. Everyone warned her to chill with it, but she didn’t listen. I’m sorry she brought her drama to your door, though. I didn’t think she’d run over and tattle to you that I was with Ashley in her room—or maybe I did, and I figured you’d try to beat my ass, figuring I had done something crazy again.”

  “You better never—”

  “No worries, man. I think Ashley and I have come to some kind of agreement, if not a truce.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah—not to mention I’m kinda scared of her.” Charlie’s lip lifted in a grin. “Like…really scared.”

  “I can’t say I blame you. She kind of scared me that night, too.”

  They burst into laughter, the good kind, and they both felt better for it.

  “So? Am I in?”

  “Yeah, I guess,” Logan said, then grinned at Charlie as they headed into the dorm. The first bit of good to come out of today. That, and seeing Ashley. Damn, he loved that girl. “And you’d better be all in this time.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Ashley paced her room, confused and exhausted. She wanted to go back to the hospital, but Melinda had told her they would be moving Kaylee back home as soon as she was released by the doctor, so there was no need for her to visit again. They were coming over to pack her things, and while she knew it was necessary, part of her rebelled against it.

  Poor Kaylee. She just couldn’t handle the sudden freedom, she reasoned, knowing that might have been what it really all boiled down to. She was sure plenty of people who left home for the first time couldn’t handle it either. Kaylee had gone too far, but she didn’t have to nearly die just for being a little foolish. Well, maybe a lot foolish. She wished she could see her. If her aunt would just let her in for a moment… Maybe the doctor didn’t want Kaylee to have visitors. Maybe—

  A knock on the door jolted her out of her thoughts, and she hurried to answer it.

  Melinda and Pete stood on the other side, staring at her, their faces grim.

  “Is she… She’s still okay, right?” Ashley asked nervously.

  Pete nodded. “She’s improved a lot. I still don’t know how the doctors missed that heart murmur all those years. They say it’s not uncommon to miss it, but… Well, anyway, at least we know about it now. That’s the most important thing, so we can keep an eye on it. It’s not dangerous in and of itself, but they told us she’s going t
o have to be a lot more careful in the future.”

  Melinda looked around, as if inspecting the dorm. Ashley was glad she’d taken the time to clean up, and the whole place was neat. What she was not glad about was that while she was cleaning, she happened across a stash of drugs in Kaylee’s room. She’d flushed it all, because she didn’t want Kaylee’s parents or the school staff finding it. Still, she was worried that even after spending hours combing through Kaylee’s stuff, she still might have missed something.

  Melinda shook her head. “I just don’t understand why you didn’t call us sooner. Your parents should have taught you better.”

  At that point, Ashley’s temper completely and utterly snapped. “Look, we all have some blame in this, okay? I know there were some things I could have and should have done. I talked to her about it after someone told me what she was doing, but—”

  Melinda rounded on her. “Wait. After someone told you? You mean you didn’t see it?”

  “I did, once. I wasn’t sure, though. When I brought it up, she swore she wouldn’t do it anymore. That was a lie, because she kept right on doing it till…well, what happened. Yes, I should’ve called you, but you know what? Look around you. This is a college campus, not a kindergarten. Kaylee has always been able to run to you whenever she’s in trouble, and you’ve always fixed everything for her, but she’s an adult now. Your idea of fixings things is to put a Band-Aid over it. Band-Aids don’t fix problems; they only cover them up.” She sighed. “I figured she’d straighten up after she started flunking. I had no idea this would happen.”

  Melinda’s eyes bored into hers as if she hadn’t heard a word Ashley had said. “Were you doing it, too?”

  Ashley’s upper lip curled upward against her teeth. “Hell no! I’m not going to risk my future on crap like that! I don’t have a free ride here, a mom and dad who can just blindly and mindlessly sign my tuition checks. I’m here on a scholarship, one I can’t afford to lose. Not only that, but my future depends on it. So no, I wasn’t doing drugs. I never would. I have too much to lose and no one to clean up my messes for me.”

  Melinda stared at her harshly, entirely relentless. “You could have helped her more! You’re her cousin, for Pete’s sake!”

  “I’m also a human being!” Her words tore from her throat. It was all happening again. She was being blamed for someone else’s actions, and the misery and unfairness of it left her raw and aching. “I told you, it’s college. We’re all grownups here—or at least we’re supposed to be. What were you thinking? You never even gave her a chance to grow up before you shipped her all the way down here. Not once did you consider that your spoiled little girl wasn’t ready for all this!”

  Melinda held a hand up.

  Ashley, so angry she could barely keep from lashing out, stepped closer, her eyes blazing and her hand waving in the air. “Dammit, Aunt Melinda, look around you! University campuses are plagued with sexual assaults and drugs. Most of them are nothing but parties. Sometimes people get hurt, or killed, because they drink too much or do too many drugs. Surely you knew what college is like. Haven’t you ever seen a news report or movie in your lives? Did you honestly think she could handle all this when you’ve never let her handle anything? Whenever she made any mistake, big or small, you two just bought her way out of it, covered it up, or ignored it. Band-Aid. Band-Aid. Band-Aid! She wasn’t ready to fly because you never let her use her own damn wings, but you kicked her out of the nest anyway!”

  Melinda’s mouth fell open. Her eyes went to Pete, who looked stolidly at the floor and refused to be drawn into the drama and mess. “I beg your pardon?” she said, glaring at Ashley once again.

  Ashley shook her head. “You heard me.”

  “I can’t believe you have the audacity to say those things to me, your aunt. Do you even know how much this stupid dorm costs? Do you have any idea what we’ve forked out for you? How can you possibly—”

  Ashley cut in. “See? That’s the trouble right there. You think it’s all about money and nothing else. You gave Kaylee all the material shit, everything she ever asked for, but you never taught her a damn thing.” Her hands flew into the air. “When she told me you said I’m jealous of her because my family’s so poor, I just chalked it up to her being high, but now I know the truth. You actually think that way about me, about us.”

  Melinda sucked in air. “I beg your pardon?” she repeated.

  Ashley stormed to the other side of the room, just to keep from slapping her aunt right across the face. “Here’s a newsflash for you. Your darling daughter came down here and almost immediately got caught up with the wrong crowd, doing a bunch of junk. Blaming me for it is so stupid and pointless. I know it’s easy to say I should have called you, that I should’ve done more. I feel bad I didn’t, because she’s my cousin, and I love her. But I didn’t know what to do! She didn’t want my help.” She let out a sharp breath, clenching to her hands to stop them from shaking. “I came here because Kaylee was here, and I wanted to be around her. I did my best to be her friend, but I’m here to work, and that’s what I was doing. It isn’t my fault she’s not equipped to do the same. For you to make it sound like I’m only here because of your handouts is ridiculous.”

  “You’re just waiting for the pity handouts, aren’t you?” Melinda snapped.

  Ashley glared at her. “I earned that scholarship, worked my ass off for it. You aren’t paying for my education, and it’s not free. I have to earn it, so just pardon the hell outta me for being too busy to babysit an adult who didn’t know how to handle not having Mommy and Daddy around to clean up after her! If you think I owed her that just because you let me stay here with her, forget that right now, because I could’ve stayed anywhere on campus, and now I’m going to have to. If you honestly thought my sole purpose in coming here was to take care of your kid, you were dead wrong. I’m not my damn cousin’s keeper. That job should belong to the two of you…and to her.”

  It felt good to let all of that out, but she also felt husked out and hollow. Her head and her whole body ached. She was still tired from the long night before and the frenzy of cleaning up behind Kaylee. In that moment, she felt like a deflated balloon. But at least I didn’t burst, she thought.

  “How dare you!” Melinda screeched out.

  Pete cleared his throat. “Melinda, stop while you’re behind, all right? Ashley’s right. None of this is her fault, and Kaylee isn’t her responsibility. Our daughter could have focused on her studies and worked hard, just like Ashley’s been doing. We can blame everyone until the cows come home, but it won’t change the fact that our daughter decided to get high and almost killed herself in the process. It won’t change the fact that she just isn’t ready for this. It won’t change anything, and it sure as hell won’t help Kaylee. We need to stop showing her that it’s okay to blame others for her mistakes…and ours. We’ve let her get away with that her entire life, and look where that’s gotten us. She nearly died because we’ve failed her as parents up to this point. She needs to learn how to be a grownup, and we haven’t been very good examples of that.”

  Melinda’s hand went to her chest. “How can you say those things?

  Pete shook his head and mopped his face with one big swipe of his own hand. “I can say it because it’s true…and because it needs to be said. When that girl gets out of rehab, she’s getting a job. If she can’t manage to stay in school, then she’s at least gonna learn to earn her own keep.”

  Without another word to Ashley, they gathered Kaylee’s things. Ashley went to her own bedroom to start packing as well. She came out when she heard her aunt and uncle getting ready to leave.

  They didn’t bother to say good-bye. Not that Ashley could blame them. Everything had become such a big mess and she had no idea how it had all happened.

  The sound of Melinda crying and protesting all the way down the hall, carrying Kaylee’s things, only drove the point home more.

  Ashley stood in the room alone, staring at the walls.
She tried very hard to think, to sort out all the thoughts swarming through her tired brain, but it was all so jumbled and confused that she had no idea what to do. It was like an off-key symphony raging loudly in her psyche, and for the life of her she couldn’t tumble the notes back into any harmonious order.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  The next morning, as soon as Ashley awoke she checked her phone. She was unpleasantly surprised that she did not see a single text or message from Logan. That’s it then. He only came to the hospital out of duty, not love, she decided. Her heart ached, and her stomach hurt as she realized that she was suddenly, truly, on her own, without Kaylee or Logan or anyone.

  She stepped into a steaming-hot shower and stood under the spray for a very long time. She wanted to clear her head, but her heart was broken, and she could not seem to think past that break. She couldn’t manage to stifle the pain long enough to force anything else to make sense.

  Somewhat robotically, she gathered up her cello and lugged it to class. The composition she had been working on had been unfolding slowly, but that day, much to her surprise, her fingers found the strings, and her heart found the rest.

  Ashley was too intent on playing, intent on feeding the sorrow and trying to assuage it, to notice that a crowd had gathered around her as she played, her laptop recording every single note for her.

  It all came out: her grief, her fear, all the confusion and pain. The hard work and overwhelming emotions that came from being new to the adult world and still struggling to shed her childhood was evident in her strumming. She closed her eyes and just let that song play out, for it was really the only thing she had left, the only thing that still made sense, the only thing she had to help her through it all. Her music was her pulse, her very essence, and she never hit a wrong note. Her always-analytical mind sorted through rhythms and notes long before her fingers found them.